Soil is also one of the interfaces between human activity and systems (like farming) and the greater ecosystem. How we treat soils, and their overall health, effect the health of surrounding watershed ecosystems.
In 2018 the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources reinterpreted key provisions of the Universal Recycling Law governing the management of discarded food.
Specifically, the Agency deviated from the legislative intent of the law to protect farm soil from pollution by negating the ‘source separation requirement’ and allowing for the use of mechanical depackaging technology to separate food from packaging.